Comments for Everyone

1. http://korn2130.blogspot.com/2013/05/show-and-tell-post-3.html#comment-form

2. http://sstev31.blogspot.com/2013/05/show-and-tell-3-next-to-normal.html?showComment=1367700587196#c5082089584876555715

3. http://tweber7.blogspot.com/2013/04/all-kings-men.html?showComment=1367700780794#c3295398623577559499

4. http://austinthtr2130.blogspot.com/2013/04/prompt-twelve-on-verge-or-geography-of.html?showComment=1367701069143#c1503794997525850132

5. http://georgianoelle.blogspot.com/2013/05/drowsy-chaperone.html?showComment=1367701248801#c6491169584635148210

The Women

The Women is a comedy written about eight Manhattan women. It follows the elite socialites, the women attempting to become elite, and the gossip and drama that relatively destroys their lives. Clare Boothe Luce's play opened on Broadway in 1936, where it ran for 666 performances.

The play was transformed into a movie in 1939. It was directed by George Cukor and starred Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford. Next, the play was turned into a musical film, called The Opposite Sex, in 1956. The play first revived on Broadway in 1973 and closed after a short run of 63 performances. It was once again was revived in 2001. Finally, and most famously, it was remade into the 2008 film staring Meg Ryan and Eva Mendes.

The plot revolves around women attempting to play their "correct" roles in a vain and fake society. When Mary, a good housewife, finds out her husband, Steven, is cheating on her with an "up-and-commer", Crystal, she originally goes out of her way to try to make herself better. Eventually, she leaves him to focus on herself.The other women go through similar power struggles to figure out who they are and what they want.

One of the most important dramaturgical choices is the fact that while the play seemingly circles around men, no men are ever shown onstage. It makes you focus on the women and their inner struggles, and their inner strength, rather then the power the receive or have taken away from them by the men in their lives. 

The Drowsy Chaperone

I think it's important to point out the theme of escape. As lovers of theatre we always invite an audience to "escape" with us into a different world. "The Man" does exactly that. He invites us to escape with him into the 1920's musical. The 1920's alone are a time of fun and frivolity, but add the spectacle of a musical and you know we're in for a ride. It's interesting that most productions bring the musical "to life" in "The Man's" apartment. Usually the apartment is gray and dreary, making the bright and flashy musical stand as an escape from the boring normal everyday-ness of his life. When it comes to the character's in the musical, we see Mr. Feldzieg attempt to escape being  captured by gangsters. We also see Kitty trying to escape normalcy, very much like "The Man", and achieve stardom. The largest example of "escape" is shown by Janet, specifically in the song "Show Off". Janet is attempting to escape the world of show business, and showing off, in favor of settling down and getting married like women her age should be doing.

Vewings...There's Three of Them

Three Viewings has a bunch of common themes, but I think the theme of death, and its ability to make us realize the good things we had is one that stands out. Emil doesn't truly realize how much he loved his wife until he has to deal with the death of Tessie and her funeral. After stealing from Mrs. Nettie James, Mac has to understand how much she was affected by the death of her husband and children. Then of course there is Virginia and Ed. While we really see how the list affects her, gotta love that ambiguity, we're lead to believe that she realizes how much she's overlooked and now how much she has lost.

On the Verge...of time travel

I think the language of the play is something that's so vital to the play that it's only natural to have it featured on the poster. I also think that the time travel aspect of the show is something that is important to emphasize. I would love the poster to have the lines completely covering the page in gray lettering, used as a background if you will. From far away it would probably look like a weird gray pattern, but on closer inspection you would be able to read it. I would want it to be darker at the top and then fade lighter. Almost, the idea of fading out of time.  In the center I would like a victorian umbrella, a modern eggbeater, and a womanly safari hat. These things are hinting at plot points and the time traveling aspects, since you have a traveler's safari hat and the different era props. I would want On the Verge to be written below the safari hat, umbrella, and egg beater. I would use neon red "diner" lettering, like the signs you see in bars..or 50's diners. Since the second act is set in a diner it continues with the idea of time travel and tying into the show.

 

LOOK! Comments :)

1.  http://chassitycurlean.blogspot.com/2013/04/show-and-tell-post-2.html?showComment=1365882709566#c8595857600164940026

2.  http://2130coryvincent.blogspot.com/2013/04/show-and-tell-american-dream.html?showComment=1365883476127#c6998705584899640475

3.  http://mpret7.blogspot.com/2013/03/noses-off.html?showComment=1365884670006#c1588988162546160633

4.  http://sstev31.blogspot.com/2013/04/show-and-tell-post-2-asssassins.html?showComment=1365886404833#c1784570751138077196

5.  http://zac519.blogspot.com/2013/04/show-and-tell-angels-in-america_13.html

6.  http://dontstopmemeow2130.blogspot.com/2013/04/show-tell-assassins.html?showComment=1365889356487#c7275482515724110257

City of Angels...no not the movie

I had the pleasure of being a part of the musical City of Angels this semester and Theatre Baton Rouge. Since I did that I got to read the script...a lot, and think it poses some really interesting dramaturgical choices. So here we go!

City of Angels is classified as a musical comedy that intertwines two plots. The "real" world is an author attempting to transform his novel into a screenplay. The other world is the fictional world of the film that is set in the film noir genre. The music is written by jazz king Cy Coleman with lyrics and book by David Zippel and Larry Gelbart (the creator of the t.v. series M.A.S.H.) City of Angels opened on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre in 1989 and closed three years later. While on Broadway  a Los Angeles theatre company began a 6 month run of the show. West End did a 8 month run of the show in 1993, and an Off-Broadway revival ran in 2006.

Both worlds are set in Hollywood, the City of Angels, in the 1940's and happen simultaneously. The show starts in the "reel" world when Oolie, a loyal secretary, ushers Alaura Kingsley, an attractive and wealthy socialite, into down-on-his-luck private eye Stone's office. Alaura hires him to find her 75 year old husband's daughter, Mallory. Mallory is a beautiful bad girl whose run away. Stone is reluctant to take the case since he doesn't trust Alaura, but is desperate for the money. Later he's beat up by two thugs telling him to drop the Kingsley case. Mallory later shows up in his bed and blackmails him for money to pay off her own blackmail. This eventually leads to Stone being framed for murder. He deals with all of this while his own past and relationship, with lounge singer Bobbi are shown to us through flashbacks , come back to haunt him.

In the "real" world Stine, the novelist, is making drastic changes to his original novel after getting pressure from his producer/director, movie mogul Buddy Fiddler. Stine struggles to balance his job pressures and his novel's integrity while his wife, Gabby, disapproves the whole time. She leaves for a business trip to New York, leaving Stine to fall back into his cheating ways as he begins an affair with Buddy's secretary, Donna. Gabby discovers the affair and leaves Stine. Stine changes the script drastically by removing a racial angel Stone gets frustrated with his counterpart and berates him for his lack of integrity. Stine retaliates by having Stone beat up in the script, then he leaves for New York to have an unsuccessful attempt at a reconciliation with Gabby. Leaving so suddenly upsets Buddy, so when Stine returns he realizes the ending to the film has drastically been rewritten. Stine, with Stone at his side, stands up to Buddy and quit. He's about to be beaten up by thugs when Stone "rewrites" it and allows Stine to win the fight. The show ends with a "Hollywood Ending" with Gabby returning to Stine's side and Stine gaining his self-respect back.

Sorry for so much, but it's really all important. When it comes to the dramaturgical choices there are two huge stands out. The first is the choice to make the "reel" world and the "real" world double cast, with the exception of Stone and Stine. The "reel" world character's are all based of off some "real" world person from Stine's perspective. Sometimes, like in the case of Alaura/Carla or Mallory/Avril, it's easy to see that their lust for power and their use of sexuality to get what they want have influenced their characters. In other's, like Oolie/Donna, it's harder to see that Oolie's "trusted girl friday" mentality is something that Donna has too, since she does everything for Buddy. There's a scene between Donna and Stine in the play where this is brought up. Stine says, "No one ever sees themselves as others write them."

The second is making the "real" world in color, and the "reel" world in black and white. It's mainly to help audiences understand which part of the story they're in, since it's challenging to follow which actor's playing multiple characters. It also lends itself to the film noir, private eye movie feel from the 1940's.

The Motor City

Ambiguity, a playwrights favorite "F you" to the audience. Detroit, by Lisa D'Amour seems to be yet another unexplainable choice made simply to confuse the reader. The play's not set in Detroit, the character's don't talk about Detroit, NOTHING in this play has anything to do with Detroit...or does it? Ultimately, the only logical connection between the two is the economic decline of Detroit. 

Thirteen years ago Detroit was the nation's tenth largest city, now it's ranked 18th and is the only city in the top 20 that has had a decrease in population, by 1.01%. Because of this decrease in population the economy has decreased as well. This is mirrored in Detroit in many ways, such as the case of Ben and Mary. Ben and Mary are a middle-class family struggling in an economic decline in their city, wherever you choose that to be. They talk about how the house in their neighborhood had been abandoned for some time, mirroring the decline in population in Detroit. Also, Ben struggles with unemployment, like the city of Detroit is now. In the 1950's this was even a bigger problem then it is now since the idea of the husband being the sole provider for their families. 

When Worlds Collide

Water by the Spoonful, by Quiara Alegria Hudes, is a play where the motif of worlds colliding makes perfect sense. The coexistence of the supernatural world, the real world, and the virtual world allow characters to interact with each other on different levels of "realness". By creating these barriers/worlds for the characters to hide behind Hudes highlights the complex relationships her characters engage in. 

While the presence of the supernatural world is an important one, the intertwining between the real and virtual worlds are the ones most shown in Water by the Spoonful. Odessa and John are allowed to live in a carefree virtual reality where their addictions don't seem to be as big of a problem as they actually are. Their conversations seem like they are talking about the weather, rather then being crack addicts. What's interesting is that even with this safe barrier, they lie to one another. When they have lunch in the real world they continue to follow the rules of the virtual world until Elliot and Yaz show up. Elliot and Yaz break the rules of the virtual reality by fussing at Odessa for not helping out with her sister's funeral costs and antagonizing Odessa.  Odessa lets her light and airy mask crack and shows John some of her true intense colors. John, and the audience, begin to fully the depth of the virtual reality mask, and Odessa learns that no matter how hard you try to hide from you past; the truth will always come out eventually. 

Buried Life

Buried Child is a "realistic" play. The set is a typical normal house and the characters are like stock characters that you see in ever family. I mean let's be honest most families have some sort of dad or grandfather that drinks heavily. The ambiguity of the show is what distinguishes from the other "realistic" plays we've read this semester. The parents of Vince are always a little up in the air since barely anyone seems to recognize him. The crops thing is confusing since Halie and Dodge say they haven't planted crops in years and then all of a sudden corn is there. Not only is that weird, but no one seems overly concerned about it either. Honestly, though the ost important and most ambiguous thing in Buried Child is that you NEVER figure our who the buried child is!

Insert Door Puns Here

When looking at Noises Off the motif of doors immediately jumps out. Farces hinge on exact timing and the misunderstandings that follow. If an actor misses their entrance, or a door is stuck making it impossible for an actor to leave, then the comedic timing and possibly plot line will be ruined. Noises Off is interesting because it not only shows how the doors/entrances and misunderstandings effect the actors onstage, but also in their real lives behind stage. 

I think a good tag line for this show would be "don't miss your exit". If you miss your exit on, or off the stage, then you would end up in even more misunderstandings and complicated situations. 

The Glass of Water...yeah I have nothing witty today.

With so many plots and character fighting to be the focus of this story it's relatively complicated to decide who is the outright protagonist in Eugene Scribe's The Glass of Water. At the end of the day though Bolingbroke seems to be the most fitting for the role of protagonist. The Duchess, the antagonist, fights his plans tooth and nail through the play. Even with her attempts to thwart him Bolingbroke's schemes his plans work and push the plot forward. Bolingbroke's desire to gain political power in the Queen’s court brings the French ambassador to St. James Place. The ambassador then helps Abigail to obtain a position in the court so that she can make a living. Bolingbroke's one desire has a domino effect on the rest of the events in the play. Honestly, without Bolingbroke's ambitions there would be no play at all. Ultimately, he is is the reason the play ends with happily ever after by freeing Masham from incarceration, uniting the two lovers, and giving the French envoy an audience with the Queen by doing this he also ends up making himself happy by completing all of his political desires.

"We never really got organized so we're just...Almost"

For my show and tell I will present possibly my favorite play of all time Almost, Maine. Anyone who has read Almost, Maine could make the argument that it's "too simple" to be a theatre major's favorite play. To those people I say....fuck you!

Almost, Maine is about the "kinda town" of Almost in Main USA. It follows the emotional journey of nine couples in that town at the exact same moment in time. The show can be cast with between 4-19 people, depending on if you want the same actors to play different couples, which is the general practice.

Almost, Maine takes love cliches such as, a broken heart, waiting for the other shoe to drop, getting love back, and falling in love with someone and turns them into literal events. My personal favorite is "Getting it Back" where a girl furious with her boyfriend of 10 years for not proposing barges into his house and demands for her love back. She then proceeds to "return" his love by dragging in a ton of heavy bags full of his love back into his house.

This play is extraordinary to me because it does what all theatre people aim to do, stretch the audiences minds, in a little bit more of a comedic and relatable way, then say Conduct of Life. You don't have to be a theatre major or a great lover of art even to come into Almost, Maine and understand where those characters are because we've all been there. At the same time you must broaden your mind because we aren't used to physically giving love back or actually falling down when we fall in love. You also have to be able to let go of the fact that you just saw guy A being Randy but now his name is Steve, since it is usually cast with a very small ensemble. We're asking the audience to come to Maine with us and live in this crazy upside down world, even if it's just for a little while.

Certainly not How I Learned to Drive

I'm a little backwards today and will answer the second part first. I was a little confused when the show wasn't given linear fashion, since that is what I am most used to. I didn't think telling the story in terms of flashbacks did much for reinforcing the idea that Uncle Peck and Lil Bit's love is in a world apart, which for me is the most important part of the story. She has already grown up and moved past theses events, possibly appealing to our more negative side. Had it been told in a linear fashion we might have stayed in our unbiased side would have stayed with the "greek chorus", see next paragraph, a little longer.

How I Learned to Drive is most importantly a play about Uncle Peck and Lil Bit. By making the other character, her mother, aunt, etc., a mob of people instead of a specific face the audience can connect with it makes us believe their love is somewhat untouchable. It reinforces in us the idea that no one is there for Lil Bit, except Uncle Peck. This somehow makes their love easier to digest, more bearable. The chorus is there to be our judgmental side for us. If we can give up our preconceived notions to them then we can truly understand Uncle Peck and Lil Bit's love. It won't be something dirty or wrong, it will be beautiful and loving. The chorus creates that separation or that boundary. 

Vicious Cycle

Fornes makes many strong dramaturgical choices, the most powerful being the meaning behind action. This means that most of her most powerful scenes are when little to no dialogue is being said. A perfect example of this is scene 5, where no dialogue is said, however you can feel more angst and fear from Nena in that scene than any other. In fact, the silence and the idea of hiding for your life improves the tension build up in that scene. Another flawless example is scene 7. There is minimalistic speech. The words are only there to reinforce the lies that Orlando will use to cohere Nena into being a “good girl” and not putting up too much of a fight. However, the thing that makes this scene terrifying is the descriptive stage notes. The fact that Fornes tells us every touch, every breath, even how they should feel gives the audience a horrifying look into the life that Nena is being subjected to.

When it comes to the title, The Conduct of Life, I take it relatively literally. Conduct means the manner in which a person behaves, esp. on a particular occasion or in a particular context. For all of our characters, this is the norm. The violence, the hatred, the rape, the belief that you deserve what’s happening is normal everyday life. The only difference that comes is when Letica kills Orlando. Finally, the audience believes there will be a break of this vicious cycle, and then the cycle continues as Letica asks Nena to take the fall for her murder, and Nena agrees. As upsetting as this is, the play couldn’t end another way. It would breath their conduct of life, making the play’s title worthless.

"I like this play because it seemed really...real"

Dear blog circle, sorry I’ve been super crazy behind on my posting. To say it’s been a crazy few weeks would be an understatement. Hope it hasn’t put yall out too much. TRIFLES! Here we go!

The idea of having a minimalistic set for Trifles isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Our faux director is correct in saying the dialogue, if portrayed by decent actors, has all the possibility in the world to get the audience to the emotional level they need to be at. However, it does add more of a strain. Let’s take the table for example. If we were using “blank” props, such as a black box for a table, what would we use to indicate that it’s messy? Also, how would we get the audience to really feel how unsettling this unusual mess is, without merely telling them outright? How far are we going with the minimalistic props? One of the trickiest props would be the bird. You can’t really skimp on a thing like that. The dead bird is the main clue to show the audience what really happened. Without it the audience is having to rely too much on their imagination. It leaves more room for doubt about whether she killed her husband or not. Without immediately being thrust into a house with an uneasiness about it, in my opinion, it makes it too difficult for the audience to make the leap with the ladies and realize the abuse and hatred that has gone in this home, and eventually lead to murder.

Mean Girls: The Modern Overtones?

Gerstenberg’s “Overtones” have a very specific set of rules of the world that are laid out. What’s nice about “Overtones” in particular, is that one doesn’t have to read the stage notes to understand the rules. Since the opening scene is Hetty and Harriet talking to one another, it is easy to see that they are both not physically in the room, that Hetty is in fact a physical manifestation of her innermost feelings and desires. The veils, that the primitive selves wear, are another tool to show the audience the idea of burring one’s true feelings in order to do the “civilized” things. These veils are used to cover up the woman’s true feelings, emotions, and their primitive selves entirely. I would also like to comment on the color of the gowns and how that plays a role in the distinctions between the civilized selves and the primitive ones. I would argue that the color of the primitive selves gowns are darker in order to show how they are more passionate beings, more driven my emotions then the rules of society. 

For the most part, I believe that the rules of the world, such as who can hear and see whom, are blatantly clear. The only time I find the rules a little confusing is when it says Hetty, Harriet’s primitive self, and Maggie, Margret’s primitive self, address one another. I don’t see how inner selves could talk to each other without the civilized one’s consent, unless talking to one another was more like subtle looks put into words. I find it interesting that that the inner selves seem to be more powerful then the civilized selves, yet the consent to being veiled and stifled. It as thought they know that in the world of civilized people they are out of place, and wrong. This play does an amazing job of displaying the cattiness of most women’s minds, but the sugary sweetness of their disposition. “Overtones” could be seen as an older version Mean Girls.

We are here! We are here!

Here's my welcome to blogger post I suppose. HURRAY! Looking forward to a great semester in THTR 2130!